Samenvatting

This paper contributes to the relatively new field of research at the intersection of digitalization, access to justice, and administrative justice by exploring how the digital transformation shapes citizens’ access to public ombuds institutions worldwide. I empirically explore the possibilities citizens have both in the analogous and the digital sphere to access public ombuds in order to complain about maladministration or mistreatment by public bodies. I build on the literature on inequality in the digital state and access to justice as well as on institutional and service design, including personal encounters, and its role in shaping access to (administrative) justice. The study is based on a mixed-methods design, including qualitative interviews with and a survey among ombuds staff of member institutions of the International Ombudsman Institute as well as the quantitative analysis of all members’ websites. Since there has been no empirical data of this scope available to date, this paper presents first descriptive findings which future research can build on.